Bad ethernet card?

I'm having a problem with my 3-4 year old Dell Dimension 2350. Just today, I have not been able to get online. I get online via a cable connection, with an ethernet cable connecting my computer to a VOIP Linksys router, and some other type of cable connecting that to the cable modem. I know the peripherals are working, because when I unplug the ethernet cable and plug it into this laptop I'm working on right now, everything is fine--I can access the internet without a hitch. But plugging it back into the desktop produces the same results--no internet connection.

*XPs device manager says the ethernet card is working properly. I didn't try uninstalling the driver, b/c I wasn't sure that I'd still have it around to install it later on--I do have the Dell resource cd tho.
*I tried using Belarc adviser and AIDA also, but neither one could give me any specific diagnostic information about the ethernet card, which I'm assuming is the culprit here.

Apart from buying one from a store with a NQA return policy, and installing it, does anyone have any suggestions? Even though that desktop cannot connect to the internet, I can easily enough d/l a diagnostic tool, burn it onto a cd, and then run that on the desktop.

Any suggestions?

 

My first guess(?) would be that you have run the setup/install of the router when it is connected to the laptop. It then thinks the laptop is the "server ". When you connect the ethernet to the desktop, as far as the router knows, it is a workstation. You may have to "set up" the system with the desktop as the server (in other words, I think the router should be set up and run on just the one computer, I don't think you can just swap the connection). Check the information about setting up the router.

The moderators may want to change this to the networking forum if there does not seem to be a solution (request it yourself if you find the suggestions don't seem to work). I would keep an open mind about drivers, but me, I would find out if the router is "set up" for working from the one computer first (what it thinks is the server).

I was going to suggest connecting the desktop directly to the laptop and test the adapter, but remembered that you would need a crossover cable to do that.

Matt

 

Hmmm I actually set up the modem and the router before I got this laptop--originally, I would only connect through the desktop. And up till now (for about a year), the desktop has been running fine using this ethernet cable. I have done no networking (in terms of setting up a home network) at all. I have a separate usb cable for this laptop, so wehn I take it home and want to connect online, I can do it without unplugging the ethernet cable from the back of the computer--but again, its not like these two are connected in a home network. I said what I did about the ethernet cable just to let you know that the cable itself is functional.

I suppose I can purchase a crossover cable at Radio Shack, although since I'd have no other use for such a cable I'd rather wait a bit for that. Not too sure what I would do, though. This would connect the ethernet port on the desktop to the ethernet port on my laptop? And then I would see if I can get online on my desktop, using my laptop's internet connection?

 

Thanks for explaining that Paul.

I was thinking of a way to test the ethernet adapter and it's drivers. If the problem is the ethernet adapter you won't be able to connect to the laptop anyway.

Do you get any error messages?

I just went to Hardware Manager and uninstalled my ethernet (network) adapter. On reboot it was reinstalled automatically.
These are the drivers available at Dell:

I looked at the 4401 and it had an updated version. You may just need to run the updated drivers program.
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen
Note: you need to use Internet Explorer.

To start troubleshooting you begin by "pinging" the different sections of the network. For example Start -> Run, enter ping 127.0.0.1 or ping localhost.

If you go to Control Panel -> Network Connections and highlight the "local area connections ", at the bottom of the left-hand panel it should tell you if the adapter is connecting.

Compare the information you find on the laptop to the desktop.

Errrr Lots of information at MS
Try:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324891/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325487/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310089/en-us

Matt

 

OK Matt, I've got a hefty homework assignment on my hands. I'll start with the driver (uninstalling and letting Windows reinstall) because its easiest and cheapest. I do have the Dell cd anyways, so I think I'll be safe. Then, I'll look at those links and take it from there. At the very least we'll rule out what isn't the problem. Thanks again.

 

Uninstalling the driver didn't work. Windows did reinstall it upon rebooting and running the found new hardware wizard, but same problem.

one thing I forgot to tell you--a popup window says that "a network cable is unplugged," even though it is plugged in. LIke I said, I can use this cable to give me internet access on my laptop, so the cable itself is good, and it certainly is plugged in to both the router as well as the ethernet card in the desktop. I've checked that numerous times.

If you go to Control Panel -> Network Connections and highlight the "local area connections ", at the bottom of the left-hand panel it should tell you if the adapter is connecting.

When I do that, i see the same message that I do in the system tray--network cable is unplugged.

Next step will be to d/l the new Dell driver and have Windows install that.

BTW-- Pinging (from the command prompt) both 127.0.0.1 and localhost got a 0% packet loss.. all four were recieved, each time.

 

All's well that ends well. First, I got online via a USB cable modem (from my desktop), and then I went and d/l the new driver from Dell. As soon as it was done, I installed it. The networking icon in the system tray with the red 'x' disappeared, and after unplugging the usb cable, I was able to get online.

Still not sure why this happened--the (old) driver was good for about 2 years or so (i think I updated it once--not sure tho) up untill now. Not sure why installing an updated version (as opposed to reinstalling the old driver) was required. I'd blame it on a Windows XP update, but it had been a couple of weeks since my monthly update. Oh well.

Hey Matt, thanks for your help. Honestly I would not have thought to have installed a newer version of teh card's driver. Much obliged.

 

Phew, glad it wasn't it any harder than that. You had identified the drivers at the beginning , I was wondering if it may have been a problem involving the network setup.

The changes made by Windows Updates may mean keeping the drivers updated at a similar pace, although what you did may have reset things so that they work correctly again.

I have worked round and round on a problem only to find a drivers update to fix it in the end. Good that it worked for you.

Matt

 

When I first started moving beyond the basic level of newbie ignorance to computers, I was told by someone (forget who) that they always check the hardware, to make sure whatever problem exists, isn't because something is no longer plugged in. Saves a fair amount of time. I think I will make "Check thy drivers" the second rule in troubleshooting. This one was a driver problem when I had absolutely no clue that drivers were an issue here. Well you can learn from anything.

 

Device Drivers

The term drivers for computer hardware while being well accepted in the trade seems to be a confusing term.
Why drivers ? Is it driving anything ?
The full term is " device drivers" .
That makes a bit more sense.

 

Tony, what connects the modem and the router is a cat-5 patch cable that has red on the left, and violet on the right (w/ green and blue in the middle), on both ends. It is my understanding that a crossover cable will have the colors in inverted positions on the two ends. ???

 

OK, thanks for the diagram.